F 1232 
.S238 
Copy 1 



THE 



MEMORIAL AND PETITION 



OF 



ORAZIO DE ATTELLIS SANTANGELO, 



TO THE 



CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Without respect for law, no justice — ^without justice, no government^ 
without government no nation — ^without nation, the civil and political existence 
of the State is but a chimera. — Seneca, 



JANUARY, 1846. 



THE 



MEMORIAL AND PETITION 



OF 



ORAZIO DE ATTELLIS SANTANGELO, 



TO THE 



COiNGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Without respect for law, no justice— without justice, no government— 
without government no nation — without nation, the civil and political existence 
of the State is but a chimera. — Seneca. 



JANUARY, 1846. 









33;!^^ 



TO THE HONORABLE THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTA- 
TIVES OF THE UNITED STATES IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED. 



The Memorial and Petition of the undersigned respectfully 
showeth, that : 

Orazio de Attellis Santangelo, a citizen of the United States, 
resident in the country for twenty-two years, and one of the 
Claimants on Mexico, is compelled to recur, for the first time, to 
your sovereign authority to have justice done, with regard to cer- 
tain instalments of the Mexican indemnity, the payment of which, 
ordered by an act of Congress of the 3d March, 184-4, has been un- 
justly refused by our national treasury. This affair has been sub- 
mitted to your Avisdom by His Excellency the president of the Uni- 
ted States, in his message of the 2d December ultimo; but, as it 
is therein mentioned rather too laconically, and there being, on the 
other hand, many new members in the present Congress of the 
United States, who are quite unacquainted with the preceding 
facts, on which their judgment should properly be grounded, your 
Memorialist and Petitioner begs leave to lay the whole history of 
the true facts, together with his humble prayers, before you for 
your kind and provident consideration. 

Pursuant to the Convention of the 11th of April, 1839, between 
the governments of the United States and the Mexican Republic, 
certain American Claims were definitively adjusted and awarded 
to the amount of $2,026,139 68 — and others, amounting to nearly 
four millions of dollars, amongst ivhich is a very important one of 
your Petitioner, remained for various causes unacted upon. 

A second Convention was then concluded on the 30th of Janu- 
ary, 1843, between the two powers, in which it was agreed that 
the unadjusted claims should form the subject of a new Conven- 
tion, and that the awarded ones should be paid by Mexico in twen- 
ty quarterly instalments, in gold or silver, in the city of Mexico, to 
an agent of the United States duly appointed*. The new Conven- 
tion was, in fact, signed on the 20th of November of the same year, 
1843, in Mexico ; but the Senate of the United States having pro- 
posed some amendments to it, it was sent back to Mexico, where 
it still lies in oblivion. Mexico, however, commenced the pay- 
ment of the stipulated quarterly instalments of the awarded in- 
demnity, and the Claimants punctually received those which fell 
due on the 30th of July, 30th of October, 1843, and 30th of Janu- 
ary, 1844. 

* See doc. 1. 



(4) 

But Mexico suspended the payment of the 4th instahnent, which 
became due on the 30lh of April, 184-4, probably on account of 
having^ some intimation of the treaty which was concluded, under 
the administration of president Tyler, for the annexation of Texas, 
on the 12th of the same month; and on being- successively in- 
formed that said treaty had been rejected by the Senate of the 
United States, on the 8th of June, she honorably resumed the sus- 
pended payments. 

Accordingly, at the expiration of the 5th instalment, due on the 
30th of July following, president Santa Anna ordered the payment 
of both the 4lh and 5ih instalments in cash, amounting to $275,000. 
The money was raised on the 17th of August, a fact which sena- 
tor Benton stated to the late Congress ; and on the 27th of the 
same moiith, the money, in c«s/i, was paid over by the Mexican 
Treasurer, Senor Trigueros, to our agent there, Mr. Voss, who 
gave the corresponding receipt for it. 

The notice of this payment, made on the 27th of August, was 
officially communicated by the Mexican Secretary of State, Senor 
Kejon, under date of the 2d September following, to the minister 
of the United States, Mr. Shannon,* who had arrived there on the 
26th of August. 

On the 12ih of the same month of September, Mr. Shannon had 
an interview with president Santa Anna, by whom he was apprised 
that said payment of the 4th and 5th instalments had been made, 
though with some difficulty (that is, difficully in raising cash), and 
received the assurance that proper measures had been taken to 
secure the payment of the future instalments as soon as they be- 
came due.f 

Under date of the 21st of said month of September, Mr. Shan- 
non, " feeling his mind at rest," sent an official despatch to the 
Secretary of State, Mr. Calhoun, stating that " the payment of 
the instalments of April and July, 1844, had been made, according 
to the Convention (that is, in gold or silver) in Mexico, on the 
27th of August last, to the agent appointed to receive and trans- 
mit the samej" (and bills payable in Mexico certainly would not 
be transmitted) to the United States. 

Conformably with all these official acts and informations, the 
State Department, satisfied doubtless of their correctness, caused 
an official notice to be published in the Madisonian of the 4th 
November, 1844, stating, that said instalments, under the Conven- 
tion (namely, in specie) had been paid by the government of Mex- 
ico, on the 27th of August. § 

But the inexplicable non-arrival of the money to the United 
States began to vex the claimants. It was then rumored that a 
Mr. Green, connected with the legation of the United States in 
Mexico, had informed the Department of State that, notwithstand- 
ing the receipt delivered by Mr. Voss to the Mexican treasury 

• See doc. 2. f See doc. 5. J See doc. 3. § See doc. 4. 



(5) 

fully discharging it from the debt, no cash had been paid ; and that 
only drafts, which were afterwards not honored, had been received 
by Mr. Voss. Hence the origin of the epithet mysterious given to 
the transaction. Hence the refusal of the president of the United 
States to comply with the act of Congress of the 3d of March, 
184)5. Yet no further informations were received from Mexico on 
the subject, nor even demanded by the State Department under 
the administration of president Tyler. 

Finally Congress, at the solicitations of senator Benton, who 
was well informed of the true state of things, after having, in 
February, 1845, passed a joint resolution for the annexation of 
Texas, made, on the 3d of the following month of March, an ap- 
propriation of $275,000 (the amount of the two instalments) to 
be paid to the claimants by the Treasury of the United States, 
" provided it was ascertained that they were paid in Mexico to 
our agent in manner as to discharge the Mexican government from 
all responsibility, and our agent be delinquent in transmitting the 
money to the United States." This act was approved by the ex- 
ecutive, and became a law. 

On the 5th of the same month, Mr. Polk was inaugurated pres- 
ident; and a little later, Mr. William S. Parrott, wlio had gone to 
Mexico on his own business, wrote to our Treasury Department, of 
which he was a clerk, a letter, dated April 26, 1845, informing it 
that he had been told by Voss himself, that " the Mexican govern- 
ment had his receipt for the two instalments, and was, of course, 
not responsible for them." 

The most profound silence continued under the administration 
of president Polk, both on the part of Messrs. Voss and Shannon 
in Mexico, and our Department of State in Washington ; conse- 
quently, no further facts were ascertained, and the act of Congress 
of the 3d March was not executed. 

Meanwhile, the joint resolution of Congress annexing Texas 
having been adopted, all subsequent payments of the instalments 
were withheld by Mexico, by way of reprisal ; so that on the 30th 
of the present month of January, eight instalments, and two whole 
years of back inter est, will be due. Many claimants, who, confiding 
in the punctual payment of their awards, warranted by two solemn 
treaties, or " laws of the land," had engaged in different business, 
have already become bankrupt, and others are on the eve of 
bankruptcy, misery, and disgrace. 

In this state of things, the Mexican Minister at Washington re- 
tired home, ours was recalled from Mexico, all diplomatic inter- 
course between the two cabinets interrupted, and a quasi war de- 
clared. Your Memorialist then commenced, on the 25th of May, 
the publication of some writings, headed " Claimants on Mexico," 
and signed, " A Claimant," showing cause why the above act 
should have been carried into effect by the executive, and why the 
national Treasury ought to pay to the Claimants, not only the two 
instalments, which had unquestionably been paid in cash by Mexico 



(6) 

to our agent, and by the latter used for certain unfortunate specu- 
lations in bills of exchange for a larger sum, to realize a profit, but 
also all other subsequent instalments, the payment of which had 
been suspended by Mexico by way of reprisal. 

On the 18th of June, Mi'. Wilson Shannon arrived at New- York ; 
but seeing that he was in no haste to repair to Washington and 
give the explanations so anxiously desired, your Memorialist pub- 
lished a second writing, enlarging on the proofs of his arguments, 
in which he promised to draw others from the very report of Mr. 
Shannon, as soon as it should be made known. 

This report appeared in fact in a letter of Mr. Shannon to the 
Secretary of State, dated 2d July* ; and then, in a third writing of 
the 8th of the same month, your Memorialist, turning the min- 
ister's own weapons against himself, fully succeeded to draw 
from his statements the most undeniable proofs of the correctness 
of the position he, your Memorialist, had already taken. 

Finally, though the lawless use made by Mr. Voss of the money 
of said instalments did by no means regard the Claimants, your 
Memorialist suggested, in a private letter of the 14th of July, to sec- 
retary Buchanan, the infallible means, whereby our Treasury could 
reimburse itself, with as much despatch as ease, for the amount 
which it should have paid to the Claimants, pursuant to the afore- 
said act of Congress.* Having received no answer, nor even 
an acknowledgment of the receipt of his respectful epistle, your 
Memorialist published it in a fourth and last writing, dated July 
30th, reflecting, with some severity, on the supposed unkindness 
of the secretary ; but, to his confusion, your Memorialist received 
two days later, that is, on the 1st of the following month of Au- 
gust, a receipt, dated 31st of Julyf, for which he made an apol- 
ogy on the same day, 1st of August, promising to take the first 
opportunity to make the fact known to the public,f which is 
now done with pleasure. § 

These four writings, against which no censure, to the knowl- 
edge of your Memorialist, has ever appeared, and copies of which 
he of late transmitted to the Committees of Foreign Relations of 
both Houses of Conorress, and to a sfreat number of the members 
of your august bodj'^, did not shake the imperturbable firmness of 
president Polk, who, through his organ, the "Union," persisted in 
declaring himself " not satisfied &c." Nor did your Memorialist 
expect* much from them, for he must know, at his age of 72, that 
truth is proverbially unpopular — Veritas odium parit — and that, of 
course, he himself must be unpopular, a misfortune, however, of 
which he feels proud. 

Your Memorialist then had recourse to another expedient, to try 
to do what two administrations had been unable or unwilling to do 
for the discovery of truth. He induced one of his friends to address 
a letter to general Santa Anna, ex-president of Mexico, residing in 

* See doc. 5. f See doc. 6. J See doc. 7. § See doc. 8. 



(7) 

Havana, to obtain from him a statement of the true facts, relating to 
the payment of said two instalments, at a period, when he was still at 
the head of the Mexican government. The letter, dated 21st of Au- 
gust, written by your Memorialist in Spanish, and signed by his 
friend, was sent ; but no answer was received for nearly three 
months, so that all hopes of receiving one were given up. It came 
at last on the 10th ultimo, and it unveils all mystery, not- 
withstanding the cynical pyrronism of certain writers, as it shall 
be speedily seen. 

In the mean time, your Memorialist received from another friend 
in Washington a letter, dated 17th November, enclosing a copy 
of the following document, which had just been brought by Mr. 
Parrott from Mexico to our Secretary of State Buchanan, to wit: 

" I have received from the Treasurer General the sum (no drafts) 
of two hundred and seventy-four thousand, six hundred sixty-five 
dollars, and seventy-six cents, on account of the two instalments 
due of the claims of the United States — Mexico, 20 September 
1844 — signed — Ebiilio Voss." 

Said letter stated also that Mr. Voss had communicated to our 
Secretary the fact of " his having received not a dollar ;" that 
Mr. Parrott thinks " the money was paid ;'" and that a new minister 
was about to be sent by our executive to Mexico, to settle amica- 
bly our difficulties with that government." 

The reply of your Memorialist, dated 21st of the same month of 
November, both on the astonishing date of the receipt of Voss, and 
on the new mission to Mexico, was too long, though by no 
means unimportant, to be transcribed here : it will perhaps be 
made known at some future time, as it contains, among other 
things, a reasoned prognostic of the failure of that mission. Suf- 
fice it now to repeat what your Memorialist observed, in substance, 
on the subject of that '• receipt," namely: 

" The date of Mr. Voss's receipt," said your Memorialist, " is 
a forgery. It only confirms the fact of his having embezzled 
the money. His assertion of his ^having received not a dollar,'' 
brings his guilt to the highest evidence. No man sui compos, and 
much less non sui juris, vfould. give a receipt for $275,000, dis- 
charging the debtor, without receiving a dollar. The receipt men- 
tions no drafts, but a ' sum of money.'' This ' sum of money' was 
received on the 'Ulth of August, and he could not have receipted for 
it twenty-five days later, that is, on the 'HOth of September. Does he 
wish to deny all payment, even in drafts % or to conceal the drafts 
(for a much larger sum) to hide the fact of his having bought them 
with the cash received 1 Where are, then, these drafts, in whose 
possession, drawn by whom, upon whom, when payable, for what 
amount 1 Why has Mr. Voss not sent also, with his mysterious 
receipt of the 20th of September, 1844, a copy of those drafts to our 
Department of State 1 Why, on the contrary, has he preserved, 



(8) 

from August or September, 1844, to November, 1845, the most 
cautious silence in the matter'?" 

The message of president Polk, sent to Congress on the 2d 
December last, in treating of our relations with Mexico, has thrown 
no brighter light on the conduct of Mr. Voss. 

After having spoken of the rightful annexation of Texas, the 
president mentions the forbearance had "for a long series of 
years," by our government towards Mexico, guilty of injuries to 
our citizens, and outrages to our flag &c. not intending, how- 
ever, it is to be presumed, to praise a father who, to be generous 
towards a foreign robber or murderer, starves his own children 
to death. Then he states that, besides the indemnity already 
awarded to claimants on Mexico to the amount of $2,026,139 68, 
payable, as was subsequently agreed upon, in twenty quarterly 
instalments, a new convention Avas concluded, on the 29th of 
November, 1843, for the liquidation of other claims amounting to 
" more than three millions of dollars, and is not yet ratified by 
Mexico;" for which " our citizens, says he, who suffered great 
losses, and some of whom have been reduced from affluence to 
bankruptcy, are without remedy, unless their rights be enforced by 
their government &c." ; but he '■'■hopes we might, if possible, hon- 
orably avoid any hostile collision with her" — which question your 
Memorialist thinks, is destined to form, God knows when, an item 
in a final settlement of all the controversies now pending between 
the two countries. But, in regard to the awards already made, as 
above, the president 

1st. declares, that " the three first of the twenty instalments 
have been paid," and that '■'■ seve7iieen of these instalments remain 
unpaid, seven of which are now (on the 30th of October last) 
due." 

2dly. and, as to the two instalments of April and July, 1844, 
which were undoubtedlyjoazti by Mexico, and emhezzledhy the agent 
of the United States there, Mr. Emilio Voss, the president says : 

" Congress appropriated, at the last session, the sum of 
$275,000 for the payment of the April and July instalments of 
the Mexican indemnities for the year 1844, provided it shall be 
ascertained to the satisfaction of the American government that 
said instalments have been paid by the Mexican government to the 
agent appointed by the United States to receive the same, in such 
manner as to discharge all claim on the Mexican government, and 
said agent to be delinquent in remitting the money to the United 
States. 

" The unsettled state of our relations with Mexico has involved 
the subject in much mystery. 'Yhe first information, in an authen- 
tic form on the subject, from the agent of the United States, ap- 
pointed under the administration of my predecessor, was received 
at the State Department on the 9th of November last. This is 
contained in a letter, dated the 17th of October, addressed by him 
to one of our citizens (Mr. Parrott) then in Mexico, with the view 



(9) 

of having it communicated to that department. From this it ap- 
pears that the agent, on the 20th of September, 1844, gave a re- 
ceipt to the Treasury of Mexico for the amount of the April 
and July instalments of the indemnity. In the same communica- 
tion, however, he asserts that he had not received a single dollar in 
cash, but that he holds such securities as warranted him at the time 
in giving the receipt, and entertains no doubt but that he will 
eventually obtain the money. As these instalments, the president 
adds, appear never to have been actually paid by the government of 
Mexico to the agent, and as that government has not therefore 
been released so as to discharge the claim, I do not feel myself war- 
ranted in directing payment to be made to the Claimants out of 
the Treasury, without further legislation. Their case is, un- 
doubtedly, one of much hardship ; and it remains for Congress to 
decide whether any and what relief ought to be granted to them. 
Our minister to Mexico has been instructed to ascertain the facts 
of the case from the Mexican government in an authentic andofficial 
form, and report the result with as little delay as possible." 

Your Memorialist and Petitioner respectfully, but earnestly, calls 
the attention of Congress to the following remarks. 

President Polk, without making known the whole official letter 
of the agent Voss to enable all interested persons to consider 
it, but acknowledging that " the subject is involved in much mys- 
tery," so that he himself is not sure of his own judgment, begins 
by stating that the^rs^ information from Mr. Voss, in an authentic 
form, was received at the State Department through a private person, 
on the 9th of November last. Consequently, he implicitly denies 
any other previous information received by that department. He 
denies the official information given by the Mexican Secretary jof 
State, Mr. Rejon, on the 2d of September, 1844, to our minister at 
Mexico, Mr. Shannon ; the official interview of the latter with 
president Santa Anna on the 12th of the same month; his official 
communication of the 21st of the same month and year to our 
Secretary of State, Mr. Calhoun ; the official notice issued by the 
latter in the Madisonian, of the 4th of November of said year j 
the official statements of senator Benton, in February and March, 
1845 ; the communication of Mr. Parrott, a clerk of the Treasury 
Department, from Mexico, to Mr. Walker, dated 26th of April, 
1845 &c. All these undeniable facts and official informations, were 
not, in the opinion of president Polk, as authentic as the bare and 
absurd assertion of Mr. Voss, the man whose personal interest it 
was to exculpate himself, and, of course, conceal the truth. Though 
many of the facts had occurred during the administration of his 
predecessor, Mr. Polk will not believe, it is to be hoped, that no 
state department had existed previous to his accession to the 
presidency ; that a new president should not consult the actual 
state of things in all the executive departments, and that all exec- 
utive transactions previous to his taking the oath of office, should 
be considered as null and void. 



(10) 

President Polk, next, quite overlooking the absurdity of a receipt 
dated twenty-five days after the payment ; of a receipt given for a sum 
of nearly $275,000, without receiving a dollar ; of a receipt given 
for cash^ while the paynaent is asserted to have been made in paper ; 
and without any knowledge of the value and real existence of this 
paper ; and endorsing the suggestion expressed by Voss of his 
" holding such securities as warranted him at the time in giving the 
receipt,''^ virtually absolves that faithless agent from his flagrant 
violations of the instructions received from his constituents, con- 
sonant with the stipulations of a public treaty, rather than execute 
an act of our Congress in favor of the Claimants, based on con- 
ditions, the fulfilment of which was already perfect. Hence the 
declaration in his message, that " the instalments never have been 
paid by Mexico to the agent ; that Mexico has not therefore been 
released so as to discharge the claim ;" and that (for these tri- 
umphant reasons) " he has not felt himself warranted in directing 
payment to be made to the Claimants out of the Treasury toithout 
further legislation /" that " their case is, undoubtedly, one of much 
hardship ;" that " it remains for Congress to decide whether any 
or WHAT relief ought to be granted to them ;" and that " our 
minister to Mexico has been instructed to ascertain (after two 
years !) the facts of the case from the Mexican government in an 
authentic and official form (the authenticity and officiality of the 
preceding facts being null !),and report the result with as little de- 
lay as possible." 

Happily, on the lOth of December last, a letter, dated Havana, 
Nov. 19, 1845, was received in New- York, per ship Norma, by a 
respectable merchant of the city of New-York, from the ex-presi- 
dent of Mexico, gen. Santa Anna, under whose administration all the 
above transactions had taken place, which unveils all mystery and 
solves all problems. This letter, which has been published in 
many journals, and of which no one has doubted the authenticity, 
is submitted originally in Spanish at the end of this respectful Me- 
morial and Petition*, and says in English as follows : 

"Havana, November 19, 1845. — Senor don Carlos Callaghan, 
New-York — My dear sir: With some delay your favor of the 22d 
August ultimo came to hand, which I now answer, though, to do 
so, I have to be somewhat diffuse. 

" When in October, 1841, I was nominated president of the 
republic by the free and spontaneous will of the nation, I found that 
the Convention, already signed in Washington by the charges 
of Mexico and the United States, which adjusted the claims of the 
latter, and the manner of executing the payment thereof, had 
already been ratified by my predecessor Gen. Bustamante. To 
say the truth, I would, on my part, never have sent any commis- 
sioner to the United States, for the cabinet of Washington itself 
should have sent them to Mexico ; nor would I have ratified the 
Convention in the terms in which it was conceived. ,But, when I 

♦ See doc. 9. 



(11) 

took the reins of government, the treaty was already valid between 
the two nations, and being more jealous than any other of the hon- 
or of my country, and being also intimately persuaded that its basis 
should consist in the exact and religious observance of treaties, and 
knowing, on the other hand, the policy and views of the United 
States, I resolved to fulfil it in all its parts, to take from your 
government every pretext that might in the least disturb the har- 
mony and good understanding between the two countries, and at the 
same time to deliver my own country from all ulterior projects, 
that might affect its integrity. 

'* To this end I did not hesitate in taking the most efficient meas- 
ures in order that Mexico should pay the awards designated in the 
Convention, and that the payment might be effected in the stipula- 
ted manner and form ; and as the Treasury, at the period when I 
entered into office, was but a skeleton, I imposed a forced loan on 
the whole nation ; so that each and every one of the citizens should 
contribute, according to his means, to the payment of a debt, which 
had already become sacred for Mexico. The loan having been ef- 
fected with the energy which characterized the acts of my adminis- 
tration, I succeeded in saving the national honor, in spite of the 
outcries and the opposition which was excited, and which attribu- 
ted to me the name of tyrant from those who care not for honor 
which they do not know, or who affect not to know that in these 
cases the citizens are bound patriotically to furnish all their means. 
That measure of my government was one of those which called 
down upon me the most censure, and gave me the most griefs ; 
but, comforted by the testimony of my own conscience, and with 
the approbation of the thinking part of both countries, I trust that 
the judgment of rigorous and impartial history will sooner or later 
justify me before posterity, and perhaps also in the eyes of my 
contemporaries. 

"I attained my object; consequently the instalments were most 
punctually paid in ready cash during the time I was at the head 
of government. But, as on the 30th of April of last year (1844), 
I had withdrawn from public business and retired to my farms, and 
as both the constitution and my character did not allow the presi- 
dent to mingle in public affairs during his absence, I confined my- 
self to recommending the payment to the president pro tempore, 
gen. don Valentin Canalizo, and to the Minister of Finance, don 
Ignacio Trigueros ; and when the other instalment of July 30th, of 
which you speak, expired, having then resumed my functions, 1 
dictated all the necessary measunes, and positively ordered the Sec- 
retary of the Treasury to make the payment in specie, according to 
my anterior provisions ; so that, if, in defiance of my orders, the 
payment was made in bills or drafts, that functionary violated his 
duties by disobeying my commands, and the agent, don Emilio 
Voss, WAS NOT LESS GUILTY IN RECEIVING, as he received, according 
to what you say, the amount in paper. At that same period, I 
dictated in advance, other orders for the payment of the success- 



(12) 

ive instalments with all exactness, and in ready cash ; for the peo- 
ple having contributed in cash, / resolved and ordered that the 
money should not he employed for any other purpose ; and my 
conversation with the minister Shannon alludes to this. 

" In short, in my opinion, the instalments, to which you refer, 
were paid in ready cash ; but if it be not so, the ininister and the 
agent Voss are responsible ; the former for having disobeyed my 
positive orders, and the latter for not having fulfilled those 

OF HIS CONSTITUENTS. 

" I am, with all consideration, your obed. servt. who kisses your 
hands — A. L. de Santa Anna." 

On this most explicit declaration of gen. Santa Anna, one of our 
greatest philanthropists has pronounced the following judgment : 

"The mystery remains as profound as ever .... Santa Anna 
throws not a ray of light upon it. The only question has been, 
from the first, whether the payment made at the Mexican Treasury 
was in coin or in paper accepted as coin ; and the question the let- 
ter of the ex-president leaves just where it was before. That the 
payment cughlfto have been in coin we all knew long ago ; and this 
is the substance of what Santa Anna tells us." 

Your Memorialist would think that to refute so silly an observa- 
tion, would be to insult the wisdom of Congress ; but as it might 
mislead the weakminded among the people in general, a reply to it 
seems to be not entirely useless. 

From the letter of the ex-Mexican president we have : 1st. his 
eagerness to take from the United States all pretext to attempt to 
violate the integrity of his country : 2dly. a forced loan raised by 
him to pay in cash, according to the Convention, exclusively, the 
awarded American claims, and thereby a proof of the actual exist- 
ence of the money in the Mexican Treasury, and of no necessity 
to pay in paper : 3dly. his repeated, positive and final orders to the 
Mexican treasurer to make the payment of the two instalments 

due, IN SPECIE. 

From the official communication of the Mexican Secretary of 
State, Rejon, to our minister Shannon, of the 2d September, 1844, 
we have that said payment of the two instalments was effectively 
made on the 27th of the preceding month of August, to our agent 
Voss. 

From all quarters and all persons, including Shannon and Voss 
himself, we have that the receipt was given by the latter for money 
received in ready cash, to be transmitted to the United States , a 
receipt which fully and legally discharged Mexico from all liability 
for that debt. 

From the report of our own minister Shannon of the 2d July, 1845, 
to our Secretary of State, Buchanan, we have that he bad, on the 
12th of September, 1844, an interview with Santa Anna, who told 
him that the two instalments had been paid with some difficulty j 
and certainly there could have been no difficulty had the payment 
been made with paper. 



(13) 

From the date of the 27th of August, when the money was 
paid, to that of the 12th of September, when Shannon spoke to 
Santa Anna, we have a lapse of seventeen days, during which Santa 
Anna did not leave Mexico ; and indeed he was not overthrown 
until December following. If, then, the Mexican treasurer had 
offevedpaper and not cash {or the payment of the instalments, why 
did not Voss, or Shannon complain to gen. Santa Anna of this vio- 
lation of the Convention and of his orders 1 — to Santa Anna, whose 
orders were positive, and who would not have left unpunished the 
roguery of his minister l Why did not Voss or Shannon write 
a single word to our government on the subject! Why, on the 
contrary, was Mr. Shannon so solicitous to inform, under date of 
the 21st of the same month of September, 1844, the then Secre- 
tary of State, Mr. Calhoun, that the instalments had been paid 
according to the Convention, on the 27th of August, to our agent, 
to receive and transmit the same 1 Were papers payable in Mex- 
ico to be transmitted to the United States 1 Why from the 21st 
of September, 1844>, the date of said Report, to the 9th of Novem- 
ber, 1845, the period when, as president Polk says in his message, 
our State Department received the j'jrsif information from our agent 
Voss, has a most profound and mysterious silence been studiously 
maintained by our representatives in Mexico, and our administra- 
tion at home 1 And, finally, if the instalments had been paid by 
the treasurer in paper, why would Santa Anna have said : " Voss 
was guilty in receiving it — Voss is guilty not to have fulfilled the 
orders of his constituents — the agent Voss is responsible &;c V 
Does this not clearly mean that the Mexican Government is fully 
discharged {torn all obligations in this respect, and that the whole 
responsibility rests on our own agent Vossi Is not, then, the ques- 
tion decidedly solved by the letter of Santa Anna 1 

It is knowrt, on the other hand, that the Mexican Minister of 
Finance, Trigueros, was, at the same time, a merchant in partner- 
ship with Voss, who was also a British agent and a Mexican broker 
in connection with the house of Tayleur, Jamison & Co. of Mexico. 
Senor Trigueros, then, as minister, fulfilled the orders of president 
Santa Anna by paying in cash, and received from Voss a receijii fully 
discharging the Mexican government ; and, as a merchant, he em- 
ployed, either at the solicitation, or with the consent of Voss, the 
cash to buy bills to a much larger amount, which were afterwards 
not honored ; and as the bills appeared to be payable on or before 
the 20th of September, 1844, Voss delivered on the 27th of August 
his receipt, with the after date of the 20th of September, to conceal 
his juggling ; and all these operations were performed without the 
knowledge of president Santa Anna. 

Now, if the money paid by Mexico is lost in purchases made by 
our agent Voss of worthless bills, has the government of the Uni- 
ted States a just and lawful right to expect from her a second time 
the same amount 1 Is Mexico obliged to answer for the faithless 
conduct of her Minister of Finance, who could have done no wrong 
but, as stated above, either at the solicitation, or with the consent 



(14) 

of our agent Voss, who was, and is, the only interested and re- 
sponsible person in the matter 1 Seduced or seducer, he is the 
embezzler of the money, and therefore the Treasury of the United 
States, of which he is the agent, ought forthwith to pay the instal- 
ments contemplated in the appropriation act of Congress of the 3d 
March, 1S45 ; nor could Congress oppose it without contradicting 
itself, and giving room to not very flattering reflections upon its 
probity and respectability. Thus, all criticism on the letter of 
gen. Santa Anna falls to the ground. 

To leave nothing unknown to Congress, relating to this important 
transaction,your Memorialist feels it to be his duty to submit another 
version of the case, which is generally believed to be the true one, 
and which, however, leads to the same results, that is, to establish- 
ing both the evident wilful culpability of the agent Voss, and the 
full discharge of Mexico from all responsibility for the money 
embezzled by him. 

On the 30th of April, 184.4, Mr. Voss applied to the Mexican 
treasurer, Mr. Trigueros, to have the 4th instalment due on that 
day, amounting to about $140,000. The minister showed himself 
ready to pay it in cash as usual , but then they agreed that it would 
be a folly to send that money to the United States before knowing 
the result of the treaty then concluded by president Tyler for the 
" annexation of Texas." Mr. Voss then proposed to employ that 
money provisionally in some profitable business; and it was re- 
solved to buy with it from Messrs. Tayleur, Jamison & Co. of 
Mexico, whose broker Mr. Voss was, certain bills or orders for a 
double amount, which should remain with the treasurer as collat- 
eral security, until they were paid at their expiration, and thus 
realize a profit, to be divided between Trigueros, Tayleur & Co. 
and Voss. 

These bills, or orders, were to be paid by the cflstom-house of 
Vera Cruz to the order of Messrs. Tayleur, Jamison & Co. on ac- 
count of certain debentures or obligations issued in London by 
Messrs. F. de Lizardi & Co., in part payments of the instalments 
of the debt due by Mexico to England, the history of which nego- 
tiation is fully reported in the Mexican paper, " El Siglo XIX," of 
the 13th March, 1845 : but they were offered for sale by said 
Messrs. Tayleur, Jamison & Co. at a discount of 50 percent, as no 
hopes were entertained of their being paid at par by said custom 
house for a long time to come. 

The affair being thus combined by Tayleur, Trigueros and Voss, 
the cash destined for the American Claimants was handed to the 
latter, and the bills or orders in question were deposited with the 
treasurer. 

On the 3d of July said year, no official news having yet been 
received in Mexico of the rejection of the treaty of annexation 
by the Senate of the United States, which had taken place on the 
8th of the preceding month of June, the money collected, through 
a forced loan, for the payment of the 5th instalment, was also 



(15) 

employed by said gentlemen in the purchase of bills of the same 
nature, and then Voss gave a receipt in full for both the instalments 
of April and July, in the total amount of $274,664 76, with the 
after date of the 20th of September said year, hoping that by that 
time the bills might be paid by the custom-house of Vera Cruz, or 
fairly negotiated with a handsome profit. 

But the sudden arrival at Mexico of our minister Shannon on 
the 26th of the following month of August, with the rejection of 
the annexation treaty, disconcerted the jugglers. President Santa 
Anna ordered the treasurer Trigueros to pay forthwith the two in- 
stalments with the money in ready cash, as collected from the people. 
The treasurer then returned the bills deposited with him as collat- 
eral, to Messrs. Tayleur, Jamison & Co. and availing himself of the 
receipt in full delivered to him by Voss, informed, on the 27th of 
August, the Secretary of State, Mr. Rejon, that he had paid said 
instalments to Voss, according to the Convention, and Mr. Rejon, 
on the 2d of September, gave the same information to our minister 
Shannon. 

Voss, then, having neither the money, which he had paid for the 
bills, nor the bills, which had been returned to Tayleur, Jamison 
&; Co. and being unwilling to discover to Mr. Shannon his shame- 
ful conduct, thought proper to humbug the latter, telling him that 
" he had received the payment of the instalments in good paper,^^ which 
he had handed to Messrs. Tayleur, Jamison &; Co. a very respect- 
able house of Mexico, /or collection. But the bills were not hon- 
ored by the custom-house of Vera Cruz; Tayleur, Jamison & Co. 
are not disposed to render back the money they had received as 
the price of those bills sold by them ; Trigueros and Voss cannot 
force them to give back the money, without manifesting their own 
crime; and there only remains the hope that on some future day 
the money will be had from that custom-house to pay the instal- 
ments to the American Claimants. President Polk alludes to this, 
saying in his message, that Voss " entertains no doubt but that he 
will eventually obtain the money. '^ How these two dictions, " wo 
doubt,'^ and '■'■eventually''^ may stay together in the same phrase, 
your Memorialist will not attempt to determine. The fact is that 
Mr. Shannon never saw those bills during his residence in Mexico, 
nor did he make any steps to see them. But, to have asserted in 
his report that soon after his arrival at Mexico (on the 26th of 
August) he saw Mr. Voss, and was informed by him to have re- 
ceived the two instalments in bills ; to have received from the 
Mexican Secretary of State the official information of the payment 
made on the 27th August in cas^; to have heard from president 
Santa Anna, on the 12th September, that the payment had been 
made in cash though with some difficulties; to have communicated, 
on the 21st of the same month, the same information to our Secre- 
tary of State Calhoun ; and to have finally made, on the 2d July, 
1845, a report to secretary Buchanan, making the highest eulo- 
giums of the honest conduct of Mr. Voss ; this to^lt ensemble has 



(16) 

placed him in a not very enviable position, so that he and Mr. Voss, 
and Trioueros and Messrs. Tayleur, Jamison & Co. should be con- 
sidered solidarily responsible for the money. But, as nothing 
wronf, your Memorialist would repeat, could have been done but 
with the ASSENT or at thk solicitation of Mr. Voss, the responsible 
ao-ent of the United States, it follows that, whilst Mexico cannot 
be compelled to pay twice the same instalments, the provident act 
of Congress of the 3d March ought to have, in all justice, its full 
execution. 

Finally, does Congress wish to have the mot de I' enigme in re- 
gard also to the conduct of our executive in this business, a conduct 
far more "mysterious" than that of Vossl Here it is rever- 
ently submitted. 

As the Treasury of 'the United States cannot rely upon Voss 
(who is a notorious bankrupt) for the recovery of the embezzled 
money, and has no means to force either Trigueros or Tayleur, 
Jamison & Co. to reimburse it, our president has deemed it proper 
to consider the Mexican government still liable for these instal- 
ments, under the plea of its having paid them in worthless paper, 
thus leaving open the field to eternal discussions, no matter if the 
Claimants, or some of them, be starved to death. What is a citi- 
zen, what are a few citizens, more or less, compared to public inter- 
est? Their clamors will be stifled by some newspaper articles, 
and the national treasury will have honorably saved $275,000 ! 
This honest zeal in behalf of the public eerarium, at the expense of 
a few innocent and forsaken individuals, will add to the glory of 
the administration! This is the reasoning: all for the nation, no- 
thing for the citizen ; as if there could exist such thing as a nation 
without citizens ! And it is thought that this is the only protec- 
tion which our institutions and free republican government should 
afford to the property, liberty, honor and life of American citizens ! 
Happily a true national Congress is there to repudiate and con- 
demn suchsubversive and disgraceful doctrines. 

President Polk has, indeed, acknowledged the right of the Claim- 
ants to obtain, through " further legislation," a " relief," in their 
distressing circumstances. " Their case says he, is one of much 
hardship." But he has said too little by leaving " Congress to 
decide whether any and what relief ought to be granted to them." 
He looks upon this question as one of pity, and not of justice j and 
he even procrastinates the decision of Congress, by adding " our 
minister to Mexico has been instructed to ascertain the facts of the 
case from the Mexican government in an authentic and official 
form, and report with as little delay as possible." He has said still 
less in his Message in regard to the other instalments due by Mex- 
ico up to this day, by only mentioning that" seven instalments are 
now due." The second and last, but most important object of this 
humble Memorial and Petition, is then to show that : 

The government of the United States is in dttty bound to pay 
not only the two instalments of April and July, 1844, undb- 



(17) 

KIABLY PAID BY MEXICO AND EMBEZZLED BY OUR AGENT, BUT ALSO ALL 
THE SUBSEQUENT INSTALMENTS, WHICH IN ALL WILL BE EIGHT ON THE 

30th instant; and that, in this respect, the question relating to 
them all, paid or not paid by Mexico, being already and most sol- 
emnly decided by the law of nations, universal jurisprudence, the 
commonest principles of justice, the general and constant practice 
of all the civilized world, and the laws of the country, the expected 
report of our minister at Mexico, be it whatever it may, is quite 
as useless as uncalled for in the case. Demonstration. 

Mexico was honorably paying the stipulated instalments, when, 
taking offence at the annexation of Texas to the United States, she 
thought herself authorized to suspend her payments. This sus- 
pension is, then, neither more nor less than a reprisal permitted by 
the law of nations. Therefore, were the suspension grounded on law- 
less reasons, the government of the United States, being indispen- 
sably bound to protect its citizens, would have had the option either 
to enforce the violated convention, or to have its citizens indem- 
nified out of the national treasury to spare a war. But, from the 
moment they have become the victims of a foreign reprisal^ not 
provoked by themselves, they have ceased to be the creditors of 
Mexico, and have to look to their own government for a speedy in- 
demnification of all the injury which is caused by its own action. 

Your Memorialist and Petitioner, without entering into any ex- 
amination of the justice or injustice of the annexation of Texas, 
will confine himself to the observation that the acquisition of that 
vast territory, being a national affair, a national advantage, should 
by no means cause the least injury to a few private individuals ; and 
that, if some damage results from that advantage, it must be en- 
dured by the whole nation to which the advantage is secured. 
This is and has constantly been the dogma even of the most de- 
spotical governments, and certainly will not fail to be respected 
by the free,virtuous and enlightened American nation, and its learned 
representatives. It is based on the respect due to private property, 
and property is life, nam citra res utique vita nostra servari nequit, 
et eeque hostilem animum declarat qui res quam, qui vitam per inju- 
riam impetit* 

In support of this doctrine, your Memorialist could quote a host of 
publicists, who, nemine discrepante, have strenuously contended and 
most decidedly made it a sacred duty for all governments to in- 
demnify their citizens, on whom a foreign reprisal or retaliation 
may happen to fall. But, as Vattel is the oracle most consulted 
now-a-days by jurists and lawgivers, his book on the Law of Na- 
tions being but a choice collection of what had been written before, 
expecially by Leybnitz, Grotius, Puffendorff, Barbeyrac, Wolfius 
Hobbes &c. your Memorialist will submit some of his passages on 
the subject to the impartial and wise judgment of Congress. 

General principle — " When the prince disposes, in a case of ne- 

♦ Pu^nd. de Offic. hom. L, 1. Cap- V. 



(18) 

cessity, of the possessions of a community or an individual — ^jus- 
tice demands that this community, or this individual, he recom- 
pensed out of the puilic treasiiry^ and if the treasury is not able to 
pay it, all the citizens are obliged to contribute to it, for the expen- 
ses of the State ought to be supported equally, or in a just propor- 
tion. It is in this as in the throwing of merchandise overboard to 
save the vessel (Vattel, B. 1. Ch. xx. § 244)." It was in obedience 
to this precept that gen. Santa Anna, whilst president of Mexico, 
imposed a forced loan on all the Mexican citizens, as may be seen 
in his letter above transcribed. Shall our government be less just 
than a Santa Anna 1 

Another general principle. " The necessity of making a peace 
authorizes the sovereign to dispose of things even belonging to pri- 
vate persons, and the Ancient Domain gives him this right (B. 1. 
§ 244). In some degree, by virtue of the power which he has over 
his subject, he may dispose of their persons. But these cessions 
being made for the common advantage, the State is to indemnify the 
citizens who are sufferers by them (B. IV. Ch. ii, § 12)." 

Onemore. — " The sovereign ought to revenge the injuries of the 
State, and to protect the citizens" — " Whoever offends the State, 
injures its rights, disturbs its tranquillity, or does it a prejudice in 
any manner whatsoever, declares-himself its enemy, and puts him- 
self in a situation to be justly punished for it. Whoever uses a 
citizen ill, indirectly offends the State, which ought to protect this 
citizen ; and his sovereign should revenge the injuries, punish the 
aggressor, and, if possible, oblige him to make entire satisfaction ; 
since, otherwise, the citizen would not obtain the great end of civil 
association, which is safety (B, II. Ch. vi. § 71)." 

Meprisals — " Upon what effects are reprisals exercised 1" " The 
wealth of the citizens forms a part of the total wealth of a nation. 
Between State and State, whatever is the property of the members 
is considered as belonging to the body — whence it follows that, in 
reprisals, they seize the goods of the subject in the same manner 
as those of the State, or the Sovereign. Every thing that belongs 
to the nation is subject to reprisals, as soon as it be seized, provi- 
ded it be not a deposit trusted to the public faith (B. II. Ch. xviii. 
§ 344)." 

Reprisals — " The State ought to recompense those who suffer 
by reprisals" — " He who makes reprisals against a nation on the 
goods of its members indiscriminately, cannot be taxed with seiz- 
ing the wealth of an innocent person for the debt of another ; for 
m this case the Sovereign is to recompense those of his subjects on 
whom the reprisals fall ; this is a debt of the State or nation, of 
which each citizen ought only to support Ms quota (B. II. Ch. xviii. 
§ 245)." 

Reprisals — '' Even if reprisals are caused by private persons" — 
"Private persons, who by their actions have given room for just 
reprisals, are at least to recompense those on whom they fall, and 
and the Sovereign ought to constrain him to do it. For we are 



(19) 

under an obligation to repair the damage we have occasioned by our 
own fault. And as the sovereign, on refusing justice to the offend- 
ed, has drawn reprisals upon his subjects, those who were the first 
cause of them do not become the less guilty ; the fault of the sov- 
ereign does not exempt them from repairing the consequences of 
theirs. However, if they were ready to give satisfaction to him 
whom they had injured or offended, and their Sovereign has hin- 
dered their doing it, they are only bound with respect to what they 
are obliged to do to prevent reprisals, and the Sovereign is to repair 
the surplus of damage, the consequence of his own fault (B. II. Ch. 
xviii. § 349). 

This is the law of nations, and this is, and has always been, the 
general practice of all governments faithful to their pledges and 
duties. A single example would scarcely be found in the annals of 
civilization, o^ private sufferers from the bombardment of a city, the 
taking of a place by storm, a crop destroyed by military encamp- 
ments &c. not indemnified of all loss by their own government. The 
law of nations, conventional, indeed, but based as it is on the eternal 
principles of justice and truth, dictated by reason, suggested by the 
necessity of providing for common safety and individual welfare, 
acknowledged and respected by all human associations having the 
least pretension to this epithet "human": the law of nations, this 
rule of action for every government, that, let its organic form be 
whatever it may, could not depart from it, without giving the whole 
family of nations a full right to unite and chastise it, shall certainly 
not be regarded by the representatives of the American Union as 
a dead letter. It would appear extremely strange that whilst they 
are daily invoking the " law of nations" in behalf of their own country 
against real or supposed violations of it on the part of a foreign 
potentate, they should most flagrantly violate it to the evident 
prejudice of their own countrymen. No; your Memorialist is far 
from entertaining an idea so offensive to your honor and good 
faith ! 

But you must, moreover, show yourselves the worthy guardians 
of your own social compact. A provision brilliantly shines in the 
Constitution of the United States, which, mutatis mutandis, con- 
secrates the very same principle on the subject as the law of na- 
tions just quoted. "No private property shall be taken for 
PUBLIC USE without JUST COMPENSATION (art. iv. amend, to 
Constit.)" — The annexation of Texas has been achieved (or public 
use, for a national advantage and profit. But it has occasioned a 
reprisal on the part of Mexico, which has taken from some Amer- 
ican citizens their private property, to wit: an indemnity judicially 
awarded to them under the safeguard of two public and solemn 
treaties. Consequently they have an indisputable right to a just 
compensation from their national treasury. 

Now, if Mexico is fully convinced that the independence of 
Texas, on which the right of annexation has been established, was 
an act utterly lawless and null, the work not of her own citizens 



(20) 

but of foreign intruders, if, notwithstanding the acknowledgment de 
facto of the independence of Texas by the United States of America 
and some European States, Mexico maintains the inviolable lejjal 
aphorism : res inter alios actas aliis nan noceri ; if no fact can destroy 
aright; if her inability to reconquer Texas during nine years is no 
reason why her right should be considered prescribed or legally for- 
feited ;if, in her weakness, she thinks herself perfectly safe against all 
forcible attempts to compel her to abandon her rights on Texas ; if 
the quarrel is to be terminated by negotiation, arbitration or war ; if, 
in every one of these cases, no peaceful intercourse might be re- 
stored between the two parties, but after the lapse of some years 
&c. what will be the fate of such American citizens as were once 
her creditors, and are now the lawful creditors of their own govern- 
ment'? Eight instalments of the capital, and two whole years of 
back interest, are positively due to them ; and periculum est in mora ; 
have they to expect from their own paternal government a coup de 
gi ace 9 And what would become of your own honor '? " Injustice, 
Vattel says and reason confirms, is not less shameful for being 
above punishment." 

Finally, with regard to the unadjusted claims on Mexico, Vattel 
says : 

" If in a litigous afTair, our adversary refuses 

the means of bringing the right to proof, or artfully eludes it ; if 
he does not, with good faith, apply to pacific measures for termi- 
nating the difference, and, above all, if he is the first who begins 
acts of hostility, he renders the cause just, which was before doubt- 
ful ; we may then make use of reprisals, or seize his effects, to 
oblige him to embrace the methods of reconciliation which the 
law of nature prescribes. This is the last attempt for coming to an 
open war (B. II. Ch. xviii. § 343.)" 

Your Memorialist, then, whose rights are as clear and unobjec- 
tionable, as they are just and legal, has but complied with his du- 
ty by applying to the legislators of his adopted country to have 
justice done. Your wisdom and uprightness will determine the 
fate of his humble Petition, as solidly grounded on law and justice, 
as utterly unconnected with party views and considerations. 

O. DE A. Santangelo. 

rfew-York, January 8, 1846. 



(21) 



DOCUMENT I. 

Convention between the United States and the Mexican Republic, concluded and 
signed in the City of Mexico, on the 30th of January, 1843. 

Article 1. On the 30th day of April, 1843, the Mexican Government shall 
pay all the interest which may be due on the awards in favor of Claimants, 
under the Convention of the 11th of April, 1839, in gold or silver money, in the 
city of Mexico. 

Article 2. The principal of the said awards, and the interest accruing 
thereon, shall be paid in five years, in equal instalments etery three months ; the 
said term of five years to commence on the 30th day of April, 1843, aforesaid. 

Article 3. The payments aforesaid shall be made in the city of Mexico to 
such person as the United States may authorize to receive them, in gold or sil- 
ver money. But no circulation, export or other duties shall be charged there- 
on ; and the Mexican government takes the risks, charges and expenses of 
the transportation of the money to the city of Vera Cruz. 

Article 4. The Mexican Government hereby solemnly pledges the proceeds of 
the direct taxes of the Mexican RepubUc for the payment of the instalments and 
interest aforesaid ; but it is understood that whilst no other fund is thus spe- 
cifically hypothecated, the government of the United States by accepting this 
pledge, does not incur any obligation to look for payment of those instalments 
and interests to that fund alone. 

Article 5. As this new arrangement, which is entered into for the accom- 
modation of Mexico, will involve additional charges of treight, commission, &c. 
the Government of Mexico hereby agrees to add two and a half per centum on 
each of the aforesaid payments on account of said charges. 

Article 6. A new Convention shall be entered into for the settlement of all 
claims of the government and the citizens of the United States against the Re- 
public of Mexico, which were not finally decided by the late Commission 
which met in the city of Washington, and of all claims of the government and 
citizens of Mexico against the United States. 

Article 6. The ratifications of this Convention shall be exchanged at Wash- 
ington within three months after the date thereof, provided it shall arrive at 
Washington before the adjournment of the present session of Congress ; and, 
if not, then within one month after the meeting of the next Congress of the 
United States. 

In faith thereof &c. Done at the City of Mexico, on the 30th day of Janu- 
ary, in the year of our Lord, 1843— Waddy Thompson— J. M. de Bocanegra, 
and M. E. de Grostiza— Duly ratified, and the respective ratifications ex- 
changed at Washington, 29th March, 1843, by Daniel Webster, Secretary 
of State of the United States, and Juan N. Almonte, minister plenipoten- 
tiary of Mexico— John Tyler, president of the United States— by the presi- 
dent, Daniel Webster &c. 



DOCUMENT II. 

Mr. Rejon to Mr. Shannon. 

" National Palace, Mexico, September 2d, 1844— The undersigned, minister 
of foreign relations, has the honor to acquaint the envoy extraordinary and 



(22) 

minister plenipotentiaiy of the United States of America, that his excellency 
the minister of finances has informed him, under date of the 2Tth of August 
last, that the instalment due on the 30th of April in this year, and the one due 
on the 30th of July last, pursuant to the Convention of the 30th of January, 
1843, have been paid to \he agent appointed by the government of the United 
States ; and that this notification has been delayed in consequence of the vast 
business of that department &c. — Manuel Crecencio Rejon." 



DOCUMENT III. 

Mr. Shannon to Mr. Calhoun. 

" Mexico, September 21st, 1844. — The instalments which fell due on the 
30th of April and July last, under the Convention of the 3Gth of January, 1843, 
were paid to the agent of the government, to receive and transmit the same, 
OK. the 21th tiltimo &c." 



DOCUMENT IV. 

D^om the Madisonian of the 4th of November, 1844. 

" Official. — Department of State, November 4th, 1844. — Information has 
been received at this department that the instalments due on the 30th of April, 
and 30th of July last, under the Convention between the United States and the 
Mexican government, were paid by that government on the 21th of August 
last. 



DOCUMENT V. 

Report of Mr. Shannon to Mr. Buchanan. 

" To the hon. James Buchanan, Secretary of State, Washington, July 2, 
1845. — Sir : Since my arrival in the United States, I have noticed that at least 
a portion of the pubUc are laboring under incorrect views with regard to the 
payment of the fourth and fifth instalments due our citizens from Mexico, un- 
der the treaty of the 30th of January, 1843, and also that some unjust reflections 
have been cast upon me as well as others, in reference to the manner in which 
the business had been transacted. I deem it not out of place for me to com- 
municate to" you the facts in relation to the two instalments in question, so far 
as they are within my knowledge, with the view, not only of putting you in 
possession of the true state of the case, but of setting myself right in the mat- 
ter. This I should have done at an earlier period, had I been aware that there 
was any difficulty on the subject, or that there was awy doubt in any quarter as 
to the facts of the case. 

" The fourth instalment feU due on the 30th of April, 1844, and the fifth on 
the 30th of the following July ; and I did not arrive in Mexico until the even- 
ing of the 26th of the foUowing August. 

" On my arrival in Mexico, the fourth instalment had been due near four 
months, and the fifth near one month, and the date of Mr. Voss's receipt, 

* CLOSING THE MATTER WITH THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT,' I understand iS 

the 27th Of August. 



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" It will be perceived from these dates, that / could have had no ageTU:!/ in 
advising the arrangement that was made with the Mexican government by Mr. 
Voss. 

" Soon after my arrival in Mexico, on inquiry of Mr. Voss, our agent, who 
had been appointed to receive the money, as to the payment of the two in- 
stalments in question, he informed me he had in vain sought to obtain the 
money from the national treasury in Mexico ; that he had failed in all his ef- 
forts to do so, for the reason that, as fast as the money came into the national 
treasury, it was absorbed for the purposes of the army and by Mexican claim- 
ants, whose influence with the government was such as to enable 'them to 
obtain the jjreference over the American claimants ; that, finding all efforts to ob- 
tain payment in Mexico had failed, he prevailed on the government to give 
him drafts on the loml treasuries for an amount sufficiently large to cover the 
principal and interest due on the two instalments, and the cost of collecting the 
same, and transmitting the money to Vera Cruz. 

"■ He also advised me that the English house of Tayleur, Jamison & Co. in 
Mexico, had claims on the Mexican government, and that they had taken drafts 
of a similar character, and were about to collect them, and that he had handed 
over the drafts he had received, to that house, for collection at the same time. 

" The house of Tayleur, Jamison & Co., it is proper I should remark, is one 
of undoubted responsibility. 

" The contributions that had been levied, in order to raise the four millions 
voted by Congress, and placed at the disposal of the government, were in 
rapid course of collection at the time, and no doubts were entertained but the 
drafts would be promptly met and paid. 

" He stated that, under these circumstances, he considered the drafts as cash, 
or the same as cash ; and that he had receipted to the Mexican government ac- 
cordingly, and that I might consider the instalments in question as paid; that 
there would be no other difficulty about the matter, than a delay of a few weeks 
in transmitting the money to the United States. 

" On the day after I had been presented to the president — that is, on the 2d 
of September — I received a note from Mr. Eejon, the Mexican Secretary of 
State, a copy of which has heretofore been communicated to your department, 
in which he states that he had been advised by the Secretary of the Treasury, 
under date of the 27th of August, that the two instalments had been paid. 

" On the 12th of September, I had an interview with the president Santa 
Anna, in relation to the release of the Texian prisoners, and the unadjusted 
claims of our citizens on the government of Mexico ; in which he took occa- 
sion to speak of the payment of the tioo instalments above named, and the diffi,- 
culties the government had to encounter to meet then ; and assuring me, at the 
same time, that he had caused arrangements to be made, lohich would enable the 
government to meet the future instalments promptly as they fell due. 

" All this put my mind to rest on the subject of those indemnities ; and it 
was upon this state of facts, that I felt myself authorized to make the commu- 
nication I did to Mr. Calhoun, in relation thereto, in September last. 

" I did not, at the time, nor until after the revolution broke out, which ter- 
minated in the overthrow of president Santa Anna and his party, anticipate 
the slightest difficulty in relation to the payment of the drafts in question. 

" When the revolution broke out, tire money intended to meet these drafts 
wai diverted from that purpose by the government of Mexico, and applied to its 
own purposes. 

" When it had become thus certain that there would be at least some consid- 
erable delay in the payment of these drafts, I called on Mr. Voss to report to me 
in writing all the facts of the case, so that 1 might be able to put my govern- 
ment in possession of them. Ivms taken sick shortly after, and confined to my 
room for two months, and was prevented from doing so. 

" Up to the time of my departure from Mexico, which was on the 14th of 
May last, these drafts had not been paid, nor any part of them. 

" No doubt, however, was entercained by Mr. Voss or Mr. Jamison, but that 
these di-afts would be paid as 30on as the Mexican goverrmient could command 
fhe pecuniary, means. 



(24) 

" That government does not claim that it is in any way released from tfe 
payment of these drafts ; but the deranged state of the Mexican treasury, 
growing out of the late revolution, has heretofore prevented the government 
from discharging them. 

" It is proper I should state, that I have no doubt Mr. Voss has acted through- 
out with the most perfect good faith and integrity, and that he did what he be- 
lieved to be the best for the claimants at the time ; that upon a statement of the 
facts and reasons on which he acted, I concurred with him in the opinion, and 
so expressed myself to him at the time, that the course he had adopted was 
the best, under all the circumstances of the case, that could have been adopt- 
ed, in order to secure the money for the claimants. 

" While it may be expected that these drafts will bepaiiby Mexico so soon as 
her financial abilities will enable her to do so, without regard to the future rela- 
tions of the two countries, I do not feel jusfifled in giving you any assurances 
that the remaining instalments will be paid until the difficulties existing be- 
tween the two countries are finally adjusted, or our government shall adopt 
strong measures in order to coerce Mexico into a compliance with her treaty 
stipulations. 

" I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant. 

" Wilson Shannon.'' 



DOCUMENT VI. 

Mr. Santangelo to Mr. Buchanan. 

" To the Hon. James Buchanan, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. — 
New- York, July 14th, 1845- — Sir : the repugnance shown by the Executive to 
carry into effect the act of Congress of the 3d of March ultimo, in favor of 
the Claimants on Mexico, has prompted me to publish some writings, in pam- 
phlet form, numbered I. II. and III, headed ' Claimants on Mexico,' and signed 
' A Claimant,' copies of which I have had the honor to forward to you through 
the post-office. 

" I now take the liberty of enclosing another copy of each, respectfully so- 
liciting your particular attention to their contents, especially to No. III. where- 
in the official report made to you by Mr. Shannon, dated 2d instant, is fully 
refuted, and the truth unquestionably established that Mexico is wholly and 
lawfully released from the payment of the instalments of April and July, 1844, 
and that our agent alone is responsible for their amount, which was placed by 
the Mexican treasury in cash at his disposal. 

" But, as his reponsibility regards him and our government alone, and can- 
not in any way affect the rights of the Claimants, I had in various places of 
said writings observed, that our treasury, by advancing to them the amount of 
said instalments, pursuant to the above act of Congress, would run the risk of 
no loss whatever ; and in No. II. of the same wTitings I said : ' Nevertheless, 
I would, by way of mere courtesy, willingly make this question the subject of 
a 3d bulletin, and add such suggestions, as to enable our government to recov- 
er the mislaid money in the shortest and easiest way possible.' 

" I did not do this , however, in my 3d bulletin, thinking that the publication 
of such suggestions might lead our agent in Mexico to excogitate new con- 
trivances to elude their effects. Therefore I now submit my views privately 
for your consideration. 

■' Certainly the drafts, which were not given by the Mexican treasury to our 
agent in payment of the instalments, but were bought by him with the cash 
placed by that treasury at his disposal, are now American property ; they be- 
long to our government, to our treasury ; and having remained unpaid by those 
on whom they were drawn, thej' must necessarily exist either in the posses- 
sion of the agent himself, Mr. Voss, or of Messrs. Tayleur, Jamison & Co. to 



(25) 

whom they are said to have been handed for collection. It is now the interest 
of the agent to keep them as long as he hopes to have them honored, in order 
to realize the profit which has been the object of his intrigues ; and such a 
state of things could last for years. 

" But those drafts, being drawn for a sum much larger than $275,000 (the 
amount of the two instalments in question), could be easily sold again in Mex- 
ico with the loss of the surplus, namely, at the same price for which they were 
bought by Mr. Voss. The drafts are good, they are government-paper, and, 
consequently, many capitalists or merchants, residing in that country, would 
be glad to acquire them, thus making for themselves the gain expected by Mr. 
Voss, as they would be received at ;par by the Mexican treasury, in payment 
of custom-house duties or any other public charge. 

"This operation, not being of a political nature, could easily be effected by 
our government, notwithstanding the accidental non-intercourse between it 
and that of Mexico. Orders could be transmitted, therefore, through some of 
our merchants having correspondences with Mexico, such as Hargous, Har- 
mony, Lasala &c. or through some of our consuls residing there, for the im- 
mediate delivery of those drafts into better hands, their sale, and the trans- 
mission of the money, through bills of exchange, to the United States. This 
measure is moreover commanded by the circumstance of Mr. Voss having 
forfeited all claim to the confidence of our government, and by the danger of 
ultimately seeing the whole amount of the bills engulfed in an unfathomable 
abyss .... What would then be the hopes for the recovery of the money ? 

" Pardon the liberty I have taken ; deign to acknowledge the receipt of the 
present, and receive the assurance of the high consideration, with which — I 
have the honor to be — Your most humble servant — ^0. A. de Santangeio. 



DOCUMENT VII. 

Mr. Buchanan to Mr. Santangeio. 

"Department of State. — Washington, 31st July, 1845. — To 0. de A. Santan- 
geio, Esquire, New-York. — Sir : Agreeably to the request contained therein, I 
have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 14th instant, offering 
suggestions relative to the instalments vmder the Convention with the Mexican 
Republic, of the 30th of January, 1843, which were due on the 30th of April 
and 30th of July, 1844. — I am, respectfully, your obedient servant — James 
Buchanan." 



DOCUMENT VIII. 

Mr. Santangeio to Mr. Buchanan. 

New-York, Aug. Isf, 1845. 
" Hon. James Buchanan, Secretary of State, Washington. — Sir : On the 
14th of July ultimo I wrote you a letter, in which I submitted my views upon 
the most speedy way of collecting the 4th and 5th instalments of the Mexican 
indemnity, paid to our agent in Mexico, and requesting, at the same time, an 
acknowledgment of the receipt of the same. Sixteen days having passed, 
without my receiving a single word from you in answer, I thought proper to 
mention the fact in a pubUcation which I made on the 30th of July, on the 
subject of the Mexican claims. I certainly had no idea that it would take 
your department sixteen days to acknowledge the receipt of a single letter, 
but I found that I was mistaken, for your note, dated " Washington, July 31st, 



(26); 

1845," has just reached me. Had my request been attended to in reasonable 
time, I would have been spared the disagreeable necessity of noticing, in rath- 
er severe terms, a bit of negligence, which I interpreted as a marked slight. I 
feel that I owe it to you, and myself, to say that I am truly sorry that I did not 
receive j'ournote before I sent out my IV. Number of Claimants on Mexico,' 
and I shall take the first opportimity to make tins known to the pubUc. — I am 
respectfullj' — Your obedient servant — 0. de A. Santangelo." 



DOCUMENT IX. 

Gen. Santa Anna to Charles Callaghan. 

" Habana, 19 de Noviembre de 1845. 

" Sr. Dn. Carlos Callaghan, New- York. 

" Muy Sr. mio ; Con algun retardo, vino a mis manos la atenta carta de 
V. de 22 de Agosto ultimo que contesto, aunque para hacerio me es precise 
difundirme algo. 

" Cuando por la libre y espontanea voluntad de la nacion fui nombrado 
Presidente de la Repilblica en Octubre de 1841, encontre ecsistente la conven- 
cion firrnada en Washington, por los comisarios de Mexico y los Estados Uni- 
dos que arregld las reclamaciones de los ultimos y elmodode verificar el pago, 
ratiflcada por mi antecesor el General Bustamante. A decir verdad, yo ni 
habria despachado a los Estados Unidos comisionados, pues el gabinete de 
Washington era el que deben'a haberlos enviado k Mexico, ni habria ratiflcada 
el convenio en los terminos en que se encuentra : empero como cuando em- 
pune las riendas del gobierno, era ya un tratado vigente entre ambas naciones, 
zeloso mas que nadie del honor de la mia, e intimamente convencido de que 
la base de este estriba en observar exacta y religiosamente los tratados, y cono- 
ciendo por otra parte la politica y tendencias de los Estados Unidos, me deci- 
di k cumplirlo en todas sus partes, para quitar al gobierno de V. todo pretesto 
que pudiese alterar en lo sucesivo la buena harmonia e inteligencia entre los 
dos paises, librando a la vez al mio de todo proyecto ulterior que tuviese relacion 
con su integridad. 

" Al efecto no vacile en dictar las medidas mas eficaces para que Mexico 
pagase las cuotas designadas en la convencion, y que esto se hiciese en el 
modo y forma estipulada ; y como el erario, al empezar j^o a gobernar, era un 
esqueleto, impuse un prestamo forzoso que gravitando sobre la sociedad, to- 
dos, y cada uno de los ciudadanos, contribuyese segun su fortuna relativa, al 
pago de una deuda sagrada ya para Mexico. Llevando esto al cabo, con la 
energia die caracteriza a mis actos administrativos, logre salvar el honor na- 
cional, sin embargo de la grita y oposicion que se suscitd, apellidandome tira- 
no por los que en nada tienen a aquel, y que no conocen, d affectan no conocer, 
que para estos casos es cuando los ciudadanos deben franquear patrioticamente 
todos sus recursos. Esta medida de mi gobierno es una de las que han me- 
recido mas censura, y que me ha proporcionado mas disgustos ; pero tranquilo, 
con el testimonio de mi conciencia, y con la aprobacion de la parte pensadora de 
ambos paises, espero confiado el fallo de la severa e' imparcial historia, que 
mas tarda d mas temprano mejustiflcara ante la posteridad, y quiza ante los 
ojos de los contemporaneos. 

Logre mi objeto, y se pagaron en consecuencia los dividendos durante el 
tiempo que permaneci en el gobierno con toda la exactitud, y en dinero efec- 
tivo ; empero como en 30 del Abril del ano pasado me haRaba separado de los ne- 
gocios en mis fincas de campo, y no permite la Constitucion, ni tampoco mi 
canicter, que se mezcle en los asuntos pdblicos el Presidente cuando esta se- 
parado, me Umitii ^ recomendar el pago al Presidente interino General Dn. 
Valentin Canalize y al ministro de Hacienda Dn. Ignacio Trigueros, y cuando 



(27) 

espird el otro plazo de 30 de Jiiliode que me habla V., como entonces habia yo 
vuelto al poder, dicte todas las medidas convenientes y ordene terminantemente 
al Secretario de Hacienda se hiciese el pago en dinero efectivo como lo tem'a 
acordado, de modo que si contra el tenor de lo que mande se hizo aquel en 
letras u drdenes, el ministro faltd 5 su deber desobedeciendo mis acuerdos, y no 
deja tambien de haber faltado el comisionado Dn. Emilio Voss admitiendo, 
Gome admitio, segun el decir de V., la cantidad en papel. En la misma epoca 
dicte con anticipacion otros acuerdos relatives para que en lo sucesivo se pa- 
gasen los plazos que se vencieren con toda exactitud, y un dinero efectivo, 
pues contribuyendo el pueblo con dinero, quise y mande que este numerario no 
se distrayese para ningun otro objeto, y a esto alude mi conversacion con el 
Sr. Ministro Shannon de que hace V. merito. 

En resumen; en mi concepto los plazos & que V. se refiere sepagaron en 
dinero efectivo ; pero si no ha sido asi, el ministro y el comisario Voss son re- 
sponsables, el primero por infractor de mis drdenes terminantes, y el segundo 
por no haber cumplido las de sus poderdantes. 

Soy con toda consideracion su atento servidor, 

Q. B. S. M. 
(Signed) A. L. de Sta. Anna. 



I do hereby certify that the above is a true and hteral copy of a letter ad- 
dressed to me by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, dated Habana, 19th 
of November, 1845, and received per Ship Norma, arrived at New- York on the 
10th of December, 1845. 

Charles Callaghan. 

New-York, Dec. 12th, 1845. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



016 241 527 n # 



X.. 



